Former MSU Counselor Establishes Endowment to Support MSU Symphony Orchestra

by Lois Furry, University Advancement

Dr. Camille D. McKinley, retiree of the MSU Counseling Center, enjoyed MSU Symphony orchestra concerts for decades, relishing the talent of the students as she watched their skills develop even further.  When she became aware that the MSU Orchestras Program needed support, she was delighted to help.  “I have just loved symphonic music all my life and I so enjoyed my tenure at MSU, that I wondered what I could do to begin to repay all that I have received,” she said.

      Camille, who resides in East Lansing, recently established an endowment for the benefit of the MSU Orchestras.  The Camille D. McKinley Orchestra Endowment Fund will provide support for the MSU Orchestras to acquire equipment and instruments, provide for student travel opportunities, grant student scholarships, commission works, fund guest artists, purchase or rent music and provide for other opportunities that directly benefit the MSU Orchestras Program. 

       “A long-time supporter of the arts at MSU and a friend of the MSU Symphony, Camille McKinley’s gift supports the symphony and the student musicians in many crucial ways,” said James Forger, dean of the College of Music.  “Her endowment is the first of its kind, established especially for the needs of the orchestras at MSU.”

      Coming from a musical family who counted John Sousa as a friend, Camille felt destined for a musical career.  She was principal pianist at South Park High School in Buffalo, New York, and went on to Syracuse University where she was dually enrolled in the Piano Performance and Public School Music Programs.  Even as she finished her degree and began a career as a secondary school music educator, and subsequently established a thriving home piano studio while raising her three children, she dreamed that one day she would return to a college campus to work with college students.

      She married a minister and was called upon to assist with the music programs of all the churches they served.  This also put her in the position of lending her ear to the many personal concerns parishioners wanted to share with her; thus the seed of a new professional career was born.

      She began her employment at Michigan State University as an academic advisor and subsequently began graduate studies to earn first a specialist degree in counseling psychology and then a Ph.D. in higher education administration.  She holds a professional counselor license in the State of Michigan.  She also became a member of the MSU Counseling Center where she served for 26 years and established the first full-complement career information center in the U.S.  She was the editor and publisher of the CAM Report for thirty years, serving high school and college counselors, and business and industry recruiters.  Upon her retirement from MSU she was cited for her exemplary contributions to diversity.  As several of her colleagues wrote: “We remember your leadership in the Upward Bound Program and thank you for helping minority students develop into well-rounded professionals.”

      Music has and always will be an integral part of Camille’s life.  She feels the endowment is given in return for all the musical enrichment that has been bestowed upon her.

      “I wanted to play a significant part in enhancing the MSU ‘apprentice’ period of all the student musicians in the MSU Orchestras, who today are so fortunate to have Maestro Leon Gregorian as their professor, conductor and friend,” she said.